by Topher Ryals

On The Most Important Part of Travel Planning

Traveling is great. Going new places, having new experiences, getting out of your comfort zone. Traveling is also terrible, for pretty much every other reason out there. That’s why proper pre-travel planning is incredibly important. Not flights, hotels, and ground transportation. All of these are important parts of planning for any trip, but they’re not important. They make travel possible, but they don’t make it bearable.

Travel, like so much in life, comes down to a single question: How will I keep myself entertained?

Movies and TV

Netflix allows downloads on iOS. Movies Anywhere gives me access to the majority of my digital library anywhere I go on just about any service I’d actually use. These two facts mean I have almost too many choices in movies and TV.

Here’s what I’m planning on having ready to go:

Arrival. I still haven’t rewatched my favorite movie from last year, so maybe now is the time.

Guardians of the Galaxy. Of course.

Wonder Woman. I might watch the whole movie again, or I might just watch the No Man’s Land scene on repeat. It’ll be worth it either way.

The Disappointments Room. Nothing says “watch me on a plane” like a movie with an illustrious zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Gaming

I’ve taken my PlayStation Vita on most of my trips in recent memory, but that’s becoming less and less worth doing. My power cord is frayed and my library hasn’t expanded in any meaningful way since Severed dropped last year. I love the system, and I’ve loved the time I’ve spent with it, but there’s just not enough there at this point. That’s where the Nintendo Switch comes in.

I have one battle to go in Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. I have roughly one billion hours of exploration to go in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I could get lost in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. All of these games fulfill the Switch’s promise of console quality gaming on the go, but these aren’t the games I’m most interested in spending some time with on Switch right now.

There are more indies than I can count that I’ve heard are worth playing on Switch, and traveling feels like the perfect time to take a deep dive into something new. I just bought Snake Pass since it’s 50% off, but I don’t know if I can stop there when there’s a lengthy list of games I’d like to play, including:

Stardew Valley.

Golf Story.

Thimbleweed Park.

Steamworld Dig 2.

I’m not going to pick all of these up, but I’m not sure it matters which one(s) I do. I’m pretty sure I could pick one at random and be happy with it, so I might just do that. Feel free to send your suggestions.

With that out of the way, I think I’m finally ready to pack some clothes and toiletries. You know, the less essential stuff.

Am I alone in setting priorities like this? What movies, games, and shows do you make sure you have ready to go? Let me know in the comments.